We are 1/3 of the way through 2018. It’s crazy to think how “short” a year feels when you count it by months. These monthly goal updates are a friendly reminder of how fast time flies.
*For reference, I’ve broken up my goals into sections: Emotional, Financial, Intellectual, Physical, Professional, and Spiritual
Achievements
Here, I’ll share the goal followed by the related achievement of the month after the arrow.
Emotional:
Become Marriage-Ready -> Read “Things I Wish I Knew Before Getting Married”!📖
One goal related to emotions was to finish a book I purchased recently called “Things I Wish I Knew Before Getting Married” by Gary Chapman. It was a quick read and brought up a lot of good points. Unfortunately, it seemed to be focused more on the discussion aspect so it would have been better to have read it with my girlfriend. Nonetheless, it reminded me there’s a lot to think about. I’m glad I read it and feel more prepared than before.
Financial:
Pay Europe Trip -> Paid Flights!
My girlfriend and I decided to make some trades — I would pay for the flights and she would pay for the rest of the travel packages. I was a little overwhelmed at first because it meant I needed to pay $2,000 off my credit card this month since we booked the flights on my card but I did it!
Now I only owe her a few hundred dollars for the trip and then we need travel insurance. However, I feel relieved to know the majority of the trip is paid for.
Intellectual:
Finish ES6 Course on Udemy-> Finished!
I mentioned last month that it felt tough to make progress towards achieving my intellectual goals related to coding. It’s tough when the industry moves so quickly. However, I did achieve one goal — finishing “ES6 JavaScript: The Complete Developer’s Guide” by Stephen Grider. Great course and it’s really helped me with work!
Read 10 books -> Read “Things I Wish I Knew Before Getting Married”
I already mentioned this in the previous section so I am double-dipping a bit but that’s because it fits in both categories. Not much else to mention here.
Physical:
Gain 10 lbs of Muscle-> Hit 164 lbs!
I mentioned last month the program I started doing with a new trainer. And guess what? It’s working 😄 I’ve been really happy with my progress in gaining muscle mass and increasing my weight.
Professional:
Grow Twitter Following to 2,000-> currently at 1,135 🐦
Wow! I did the math and my Twitter growth is on track to hit 2,000 by the end of 2018! 😱 I had 668 on January 1st and as of today, May 5th, I have 1,135. All I need to do is keep sharing helpful resources, engaging with others on Twitter and creating meaningful content. The rest will take care of itself.
The article I was working on back in January finally got published 😁! It was published on April 5th and received a lot of positive feedback on Twitter. A few people even reached out over DM and on LinkedIn.
In addition to that, I wrote another article for freeCodeCamp and submitted it on April 25th. Let’s hope they publish it soon 🤞🏼
Although this wasn’t at a developer conference, it’s still progress towards achieving this goal. Another colleague and I gave a workshop on “Productivity Hacks” to a group of students learning to code in Thinkful’s Phoenix community. It went well and students commented that there were a lot of tools they hadn’t heard about! Next steps will be looking for conferences coming up towards the end of the year to speak at.
Spiritual:
Leading meditation sessions at work
This wasn’t a specific goal of mine but I mentioned to a co-worker that I meditate on a regular basis. One technique I use occasionally is for an analytical meditation and it’s called “The Dome” technique.
He asked if I could teach him so I ended up leading a session with him and three other co-workers. It was my first time leading a group for that technique and it went surprisingly well! We’ve continued to do it a few times per week 🙏
Updates
Here are things that I’ve added or changed relating to my goals:
Physical:
Dunk a basketball
I have always loved playing basketball. In January, I started playing once a week on Wednesdays with friends. I’ve always dreamed of being able to dunk. When I meet someone who is at least 6ft and plays basketball, the first thing I ask is “Can you dunk?”.
I always think, “Man, if I were 6ft, I’d be able to dunk.” This time, instead of blaming my bad genes and short height (5' 8"), I’ve decided to challenge myself to dunk. I’ve found quite a few videos for inspiration on YouTube and I sincerely believe I can do it with enough training. So I’m adding it to my goals for 2018.
Walk across a highline
My younger brother is big into slacklining. He got me into it and has encouraged me to take it to the next level: highlining. If you haven’t heard of it, it’s basically walking across a slackline that is in between two cliffs. Sound crazy? It is but it’s safer than you think. You are attached to the line with a harness, so if you fall, it catches you.
I’ve been slacklining with my roommate a lot more and getting better. Now I want to try highlining. So my goal is to walk across a highline before the end of 2018.
That’s all for May folks! Stay tuned for next month’s update!
We are 1/3 of the way through 2018. It’s crazy to think how “short” a year feels when you count it by months. These monthly goal updates are a friendly reminder of how fast time flies.
*For reference, I’ve broken up my goals into sections: Emotional, Financial, Intellectual, Physical, Professional, and Spiritual
Achievements
Here, I’ll share the goal followed by the related achievement of the month after the arrow.
Emotional:
One goal related to emotions was to finish a book I purchased recently called “Things I Wish I Knew Before Getting Married” by Gary Chapman. It was a quick read and brought up a lot of good points. Unfortunately, it seemed to be focused more on the discussion aspect so it would have been better to have read it with my girlfriend. Nonetheless, it reminded me there’s a lot to think about. I’m glad I read it and feel more prepared than before.
Financial:
My girlfriend and I decided to make some trades — I would pay for the flights and she would pay for the rest of the travel packages. I was a little overwhelmed at first because it meant I needed to pay $2,000 off my credit card this month since we booked the flights on my card but I did it!
Now I only owe her a few hundred dollars for the trip and then we need travel insurance. However, I feel relieved to know the majority of the trip is paid for.
Intellectual:
I mentioned last month that it felt tough to make progress towards achieving my intellectual goals related to coding. It’s tough when the industry moves so quickly. However, I did achieve one goal — finishing “ES6 JavaScript: The Complete Developer’s Guide” by Stephen Grider. Great course and it’s really helped me with work!
I already mentioned this in the previous section so I am double-dipping a bit but that’s because it fits in both categories. Not much else to mention here.
Physical:
I mentioned last month the program I started doing with a new trainer. And guess what? It’s working 😄 I’ve been really happy with my progress in gaining muscle mass and increasing my weight.
Professional:
Wow! I did the math and my Twitter growth is on track to hit 2,000 by the end of 2018! 😱 I had 668 on January 1st and as of today, May 5th, I have 1,135. All I need to do is keep sharing helpful resources, engaging with others on Twitter and creating meaningful content. The rest will take care of itself.
The article I was working on back in January finally got published 😁! It was published on April 5th and received a lot of positive feedback on Twitter. A few people even reached out over DM and on LinkedIn.
In addition to that, I wrote another article for freeCodeCamp and submitted it on April 25th. Let’s hope they publish it soon 🤞🏼
Although this wasn’t at a developer conference, it’s still progress towards achieving this goal. Another colleague and I gave a workshop on “Productivity Hacks” to a group of students learning to code in Thinkful’s Phoenix community. It went well and students commented that there were a lot of tools they hadn’t heard about! Next steps will be looking for conferences coming up towards the end of the year to speak at.
Spiritual:
This wasn’t a specific goal of mine but I mentioned to a co-worker that I meditate on a regular basis. One technique I use occasionally is for an analytical meditation and it’s called “The Dome” technique.
He asked if I could teach him so I ended up leading a session with him and three other co-workers. It was my first time leading a group for that technique and it went surprisingly well! We’ve continued to do it a few times per week 🙏
Updates
Here are things that I’ve added or changed relating to my goals:
Physical:
I have always loved playing basketball. In January, I started playing once a week on Wednesdays with friends. I’ve always dreamed of being able to dunk. When I meet someone who is at least 6ft and plays basketball, the first thing I ask is “Can you dunk?”.
I always think, “Man, if I were 6ft, I’d be able to dunk.” This time, instead of blaming my bad genes and short height (5' 8"), I’ve decided to challenge myself to dunk. I’ve found quite a few videos for inspiration on YouTube and I sincerely believe I can do it with enough training. So I’m adding it to my goals for 2018.
My younger brother is big into slacklining. He got me into it and has encouraged me to take it to the next level: highlining. If you haven’t heard of it, it’s basically walking across a slackline that is in between two cliffs. Sound crazy? It is but it’s safer than you think. You are attached to the line with a harness, so if you fall, it catches you.
I’ve been slacklining with my roommate a lot more and getting better. Now I want to try highlining. So my goal is to walk across a highline before the end of 2018.
That’s all for May folks! Stay tuned for next month’s update!